Trouble in Vegas
by Horsebot3000
Summary: A sequel to Trouble in Paradise. One year on from their last disastrous business trip, Felicity thinks the only thing she was to worry about during their trip to Las Vegas is Oliver meeting her mother. But an overenthusiastic Donna Smoak is the least of their concerns.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello! Very excited to be back with a new multi-chapter fic. This is a sequel to my last multi-chapter fic, Trouble in Paradise. It's strongly recommended that you read that first. That story, and this, are canon compliant up to the end up season 2. However, it's likely I'll weave in some details or characters from season 3, so if you're not up to at least 3x20, keep an eye out for any warnings on future chapters.**

**So, to clarify, Sara is still alive. Laurel is not the Black Canary, Ray Palmer hasn't taken over QC, the League hasn't been after Oliver and we haven't all endured six months of angst.**

**Lastly, I'm not really one for a disciplined update schedule. Sometimes you might wait a couple of weeks, sometimes you might get two chapters in a week. If you like what you read, please consider adding the story to your follows. Now enjoy!**

**Trouble in Vegas**

**Chapter 1**

"Oliver, I swear to everything holy that I'll kill you if you don't call me back in the next two minutes." Felicity hisses viciously into her phone. "I am in way over my head here and I need you to come and rescue me. Seriously."

She ends the call with a jab at her phone screen more violent than necessary and looks around at the chaos surrounding her, taking a series of deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. As she's assessing her next move, her phone buzzes in her hand, Oliver's photo flashing up on the screen.

"Felicity-"

"I've been trying to reach you for hours! Where are you? Can you come here? I am seriously not coping here, Oliver." She's well aware that her voice is approaching a pitch that dogs will start to howl at, but she doesn't care.

"Felicity, open the front door." His words are tinged with amusement before he ends the call, which annoys Felicity even more as she hurries across the room to the entrance way. She tucks the phone between her ear and shoulder as she unfastens each lock on the door, finally pulling the heavy door back to reveal Oliver standing on the threshold, one hand tucking his phone into the pocket of his dark jeans.

"Thank God!" she gasps, ending the call on her phone and then reaching forward to grab handfuls of his wool sweater and drag him into the apartment. "How could you leave me here alone?"

Oliver gently disentangles her fingers before he pushes the door shut behind him and refastens the locks. He turns to Felicity and places his hands lightly on her shoulders. She glances up at him through wisps of hair that have escaped her ponytail.

"Well, you did make it clear earlier this afternoon when I called you that you had this under control, but I'm here now, Felicity." He says with a smile, his blue eyes sparkling with affection. "What's wrong?"

"Everything!" she cries. "She hates me! She won't let me near her and keeps throwing things if I get within ten feet. Why did I volunteer to do this? More to the point, why didn't _you_ stop me? It's clear I'm not cut out for this and a gentle word to that effect from my boyfriend may have been helpful."

Oliver struggles to keep his expression neutral, knowing that there's nothing he could have earlier to change Felicity's mind. "I don't think she hates you, Felicity. She's only nine months old and this is the first time Digg and Lyla have left her overnight. That's got to make her a little bit antsy."

"You wait." Felicity pokes him firmly in the chest. "You'll see. Our goddaughter hates me, Oliver."

His hands slip down her bare arms and he grabs one of her hands. "Come on, show me the damage."

She leads him through Digg and Lyla's living room which is strewn with baby-related detritus, including a wide range of child rearing books that Oliver suspects Felicity has been frantically reading through, looking for tips. Felicity pauses at the half closed sliding doors and looks apprehensively at Oliver.

"Do you want me to go first?" he whispers, his lips turned up slightly in a smile.

"Yes! The last time I went in there I got a stuffed bunny to the face." Felicity pulls her hand out of his and shoves him at the doors. She hovers behind him, hopping from one foot to the next, as he slides open the doors and steps inside the room.

The light is low, but he can easily make out the large crib that dominates the centre of the room. Standing up in the crib, small hands gripping the bars and dark hair billowing up in a riot of curls, is his nine month old goddaughter, Julia Diggle.

"Hey there, Jules," he says softly as he walks towards her. She solemnly watches his approach with enormous brown eyes. He pauses a few feet from her and watches for her reaction. She stares at him for a few seconds and then her chubby face breaks into a grin and she raises her hands for him to pick her up, cooing and babbling.

"That's my girl." Oliver smiles, stepping up to the crib and easily hoisting her up into his arms. Julia immediately fists one hand in his light grey sweater and reaches the other up to his face, her little fingers attempting to hook into his mouth. "Have you been torturing Aunt Felicity, Jules?" he asks, shifting his head back out of Julia's reach.

"Yes, she has." Felicity responds from her spot in the doorway, arms crossed. She glances warily at the baby, whose sunny expression takes on an almost mischievous glint as she regards her godmother. Felicity takes a small step closer to Oliver and Julia.

"Do you want to go to Aunt Felicity?" Oliver murmurs to the baby. Julia's grip on Oliver's shirt tightens and then she suddenly lets go and reaches both hands out to Felicity, leaning right forward and causing Oliver to tighten his grip on her so she doesn't tumble out of his arms.

"Oh!" Felicity says with surprise. She reaches out and takes Julia from Oliver, awkwardly hitching her up on her hip and pulling the baby in close. She gives Julia a hesitant smile. "I can't believe she's letting me hold her. This is- ow!" Felicity howls with pain as Julia's small hands bury into her ponytail and yank down firmly. "Oliver!"

He quickly moves to untangle Felicity's hair from Julia's hands and then takes the baby back into his arms.

"I told you! She hates me!" Felicity cries unhappily as she massages her head where her hair was pulled.

"All babies pull hair, Felicity." Oliver says, reaching out one hand to squeeze Felicity's shoulder while he uses the other to balance Julia on his hip.

"That was pulling with intent." Felicity replies, eyeing Julia with distrust. "Look! She just grinned at me. She enjoys my pain, Oliver."

Oliver bites his tongue and instead moves out into the lounge, depositing Julia into her playpen and directing her attention to the small pile of toys in the corner.

"You're an only child, Felicity, and you don't strike me as the type of person that babysat as a teenager to earn money for college. It's okay to be a little uncertain around babies if you haven't ever really dealt with them before." He points out reasonably as he tugs her down to sit beside him on the couch. She draws her knees up underneath her and Oliver slides his arm around her shoulder, drawing her in against his side.

"But I've been around Julia all the time! She should be used to me by now."

"Yeah, but always with her parents around. Plus, babies are a bit like dogs, they sense when you're nervous." She glances up at him and smirks.

"I am not going to tell Digg and Lyla that you just compared their adorable little baby's behaviour to that of a dog."

"That would be appreciated." He squeezes her shoulder. "But I meant it, Julia can sense that you're a bit nervous around her. I'm not sure why she then resorts to flinging toys at your head, but being the daughter of two ex-special forces soldiers probably has something to do with that."

Felicity lets out a snort of laughter and wriggles a bit closer into Oliver's side, looking across at Julia in her playpen. "I like babies, you know, I really do. Well, the cute ones, anyway. Not the ones that look like frogs that you have to pretend to find cute so your best friend from high school doesn't hate you. And I really want Julia to like me."

"She does like you, Felicity. You just need to spend a bit more time interacting directly with her, get her more used to you." Oliver suggests. "She's really just acting out tonight because her parents aren't here and she's not sure what's going on."

"And yet she likes you." Felicity points out.

Oliver shrugs. "What can I say? Women find me irresistible."

"Ugh, you." She gives him a little shove and then slips out from under his arm and goes to kneel down beside Julia's play pen. She picks up one of Julia's toys and wiggles it in the vicinity of Julia's face.

"Here's your slightly scary looking dolly, Julia." She coos, then turns the doll towards Oliver. "Is this something Sara bought? It looks like something Sara would buy."

"It looks like a doll version of Sara dressed as the Canary, so yes, I'm guessing Sara bought it." Oliver replies. "Or, more likely, had the League of Assassins' dressmaker sew it. It's scarily accurate."

"Weird." Felicity murmurs, both at the thought that Sara would think to get Julia a doll in her image and at the thought that the League of Assassins might a dressmaker willing to sew a child's toy. Nevertheless, she turns the doll back to Julia, who reaches out to snatch it and immediately stuffs one leg of the doll in her mouth.

"So how many times has Digg called to check on how you're going?" Oliver asks as he slides off the couch to sit beside Felicity on the floor.

"Would you believe no phone calls and only one text message where he tried to be all casual and it just came across as really intense?" Felicity replies with a smile. "I think he must have sent that while Lyla was in the bathroom. She was surprisingly calm when they left."

"It's still early. Wait until Julia's bedtime, I bet neither of them will be able to resist checking to see how things go."

"Well now you're here I'm not quite so wound up. I was afraid Digg would ring while I was mid panic attack and Julia was shouting down the building."

"So you're the babysitter that waits until the parents go out before inviting her boyfriend over?" Oliver smirks. "Interesting, Smoak. I figured you for the type to use the excuse to catch up on your homework."

Felicity resists the urge to swat him and instead adopts a dignified expression before responding. "As you pointed out earlier, I never did much babysitting. And I was _never_ behind on my homework. Besides, I get the feeling that you might have been the sort of boyfriend that got invited over on a lot of babysitting jobs."

Oliver has the grace to look a little embarrassed at that. "I may have, once or twice, during high school."

"I knew it!" Felicity crows, her laughs drawing a few answering gurgles of happiness from Julia. "I can just imagine you skulking around in the bushes outside some poor family's house until the coast is clear."

"Please. I never skulk. Casually wait in my parked car down the street, yes, but skulk? Never."

"Well then, Mr Non Skulker, how about you help me get Julia settled for the night and you can tell me all about what happened after the parents left the house." Felicity pushes up to her feet and starts gathering up toys and books. "Considering you're the baby whisperer, I'll let you get Julia ready while I warm up her bottle. I'm afraid of what she might do to my hair if I get too close again."

Oliver grumbles good naturedly as he gets to his feet and then scoops Julia up out of her play pen. Between the two of them, they get Julia into bed within half an hour. Felicity finishes tidying up the living room while Oliver hunts through Digg's wine collection for a bottle he won't miss too much.

"The sweet sounds of silence," Felicity sighs a few minutes later, glass of wind in hand, sounding like she's been child minding for months and not just a few short hours. She closes her eyes and takes a deep sip, humming in approval at the rich red wine Oliver selected. He sits beside her with his own glass and Felicity immediately shifts in her seat and swings her legs up to rest on Oliver's lap.

"So I was thinking," he begins, tracing one of Felicity's calves with his hand. She peers over her wine glass at him suspiciously.

"Why are you using that tone?" she asks.

"What tone?"

"The tone that says you have something to say that you know I'm not going to like." She replies. "It's the same tone you used when you told me that rats had chewed through some of my cabling in the foundry after you forgot to get more rat poison."

Oliver groans. "Still you bring that up. It was six months ago."

"And it took me two days to fix. Two days, on my hands and knees." Felicity points out.

Oliver's grip tightens on her calf. "Oh I remember that part," he says lasciviously, before ducking the small throw pillow Felicity throws at his head.

"Get on with it, Oliver. Rip off the proverbial bandaid and hit me with it. Just let me take a swig of wine first."

Oliver waits until he sees her swallow. "I thought maybe I could meet you mother while we're in Vegas for that conference next week."

Felicity nearly drops her glass, but recovers before a drop of wine can splash out. "I'm sorry, I think I'm having a small stroke. Did you just volunteer to meet my mother? _My _mother?"

"Yeah. We've been partners for three years, Felicity. I think it's time I met your mother. And we'll be in the same city as her for an entire week. It'd be rude if we didn't see her."

Felicity feels a little rush of emotion at Oliver's declaration that they've been partners for three years. Technically it's only been a year since they got together romantically during their Hawaiian trip, but she loves that he prefers to count the start of their relationship as when they started working together on his – now their – crusade.

"Oliver, that's really sweet, but my mom…well, she's my mom. I really don't want to subject you to that."

"Come on, she can't be that bad." Oliver cajoles. "We can do it completely on your terms. It can be five minutes at the airport before our plane back to Starling for all I care. I just want a chance to meet her face to face."

"Why do you want to meet her so badly?" Felicity asks curiously. Oliver shrugs.

"She's your only family and family is important." He replies. "Besides, I bet she's got some really cute baby photos of you that she carries around."

Felicity leans over to swat at him. "Ugh, fine. I'll organise something. But consider this your one warning. Once you've met Donna Smoak, you can't un-meet her. And believe me, you're going to be hoping that you can."

"How bad can she be? She's related to you." Oliver points out, taking a sip of his wine.

It's on the tip of Felicity's tongue to point out that by that measure, his mother should have been considerably nicer than she actually was, but she holds it back. Felicity may never have liked Moira, but she did everything she could to protect Oliver and Thea and that's something Felicity will always be grateful for.

"You'll see." She says instead. "Now please tell me you've finished writing your speech."

Oliver rolls his eyes. "Yes I finished it and I gave it to Jerry yesterday so he can put together the accompanying powerpoint."

Felicity gives a hum of approval. Ever since she officially became more involved in Applied Science matters, Oliver had hired an administrative assistant to take over some of her more menial executive assistant jobs. He'd offered to find a new EA altogether, but Felicity knew he liked having her have his back and it was considerably easier to coordinate their nightly activities when she had control of his calendar. Still, she loved Jerry fiercely, mostly for his skills with the coffee maker and the gossip he provided via the secretarial pool.

"I still don't know why you won't do the speech," Oliver says. "You're the brains of this operation, not me."

It's Felicity's turn to roll her eyes. Even after all this time as CEO and the way that Oliver has turned the company around after the damage that Slade and Isabel did, he still doubts his skills. She finds it adorable and sad in equal measures.

"Don't be ridiculous, Oliver. I might have to explain the technical stuff to you, but you're the one that can immediately tell whether an idea is worth investing in and who the ideal market is. The conference organisers want a holistic view on QC's recent success and you're the man to do that. I'd bore them silly in minutes with techy talk or, worse, have them walking out if I somehow managed to go off on one of by babbling tangents."

Oliver's face is still showing his doubt, so Felicity sets her glass aside and crawls into his lap, curling her arms around his neck and wriggling a little as his free hand slides onto her thigh and squeezes. "You'll be great. Now, stop thinking about the conference and tell me more about these nights sneaking in to see your girlfriends while they were babysitting. Did you get caught?"

Oliver's eyes darken a little as she gives a further shimmy of her hips and he carefully sets aside his wine glass before looping his arm around her waist and dragging her in closer. "Once or twice."

"And what did you get caught doing?" she murmurs, leaning in to catch the lobe of his left ear in her teeth. His breath hitches and his grip on her tightens.

"I should probably just show you, I'm not really one for wordy explanations."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks to everyone that took the trouble to review, follow or favourite this story after chapter one. Much appreciated! Please enjoy this next chapter.**

**Chapter 2**

"Before you ask, yes all these cases are necessary and I am not leaving a single one behind." Felicity says without looking up from her tablet. She's double checking their hotel reservations before they leave for the airport. Working with Oliver in both their day job and their night job has made Felicity super security conscious and she's already scoped out all the possible entries, exits and weak points for the hotel suites they'd booked. A last minute change on the part of the hotel would not be appreciated.

Oliver exchanges glances with Digg, who shrugs. He glances over the three large suitcases that Felicity has propped up next to the front door of her apartment. Knowing him like she does, he's packed the bare minimum for their week long trip.

"Don't even bother, Oliver." She says, looking up at last. "You know the full medical kit is non-negotiable. There is literally nothing in those bags that I don't deem completely necessary for this trip."

Oliver holds up his hands in mock surrender. "Fine! I know better than to argue." He replies and Felicity smirks in response.

"I hope one of these cases has a bikini in it, Smoak, because we're definitely booking in some pool time." A new voice from the hall announces.

"Sara!" Felicity exclaims, putting down her tablet and rushing over to throw her arms around the assassin. "I thought you were meeting us in Vegas."

Sara returns the hug enthusiastically and then takes a step back and shrugs. "Change of plans. I finished up my last job early and came home yesterday to see Dad and Laurel."

"Oh, how are they? I haven't seen Captain Lance for a few weeks and Laurel…well, we're not really coffee buddies." Felicity says, quickly looking over to Oliver.

Laurel Lance had pretty much been unaware of Felicity's existence up until Slade let his Mirakuru army loose in Starling. That had changed to some degree once she finally discovered Oliver's secret, as she became a frequent visitor to the foundry. Although Oliver had been oblivious, it had been fairly obvious to Felicity that discovering Oliver was the Arrow had reignited those on-again, off-again feelings that Laurel harboured for Oliver. And really, Felicity couldn't blame her. Discovering your ex-boyfriend was actually secretly a masked hero saving the city by night who'd also saved your own life several times had to be a massive turn on. She should know; it turned her on constantly.

But while Oliver was seemingly oblivious to Laurel's changing opinion of him, Laurel herself was not oblivious to the way Oliver's eyes always sought out Felicity when he entered a room, or how he always let Felicity be the one to put his mask on him before he left for patrol. When a kiss had been added to that pre-patrol ritual after Hawaii, Laurel's politely pleasant but somewhat condescending attitude towards Felicity had cooled into just plain condescension. Thankfully, that was also accompanied by less frequent visits to the foundry, something both Felicity and Digg approved of. John Diggle was seemingly one of the few men in Starling City to not immediately fall under the thrall of Laurel Lance, something Felicity was grateful for on a daily basis.

"Hmm, I'm sure." Sara smirks, giving Felicity a quick wink. "Now let's get going, we can gossip on the flight."

She quickly hugs Digg and Oliver before snagging her duffle bag off the floor, grabbing one of Felicity's bags and heading out the door. Oliver and Digg follow suit with the remaining luggage, while Felicity stuffs her tablet into her oversized handbag and then follows behind them.

"So where's Lyla off to this time, Digg?" Sara asks as they settle into the Bentley. She's up front with Digg while Felicity tucks into Oliver's side on the backseat.

"Officially, she's part of the security team for a diplomatic trip into Pokolistan." Digg replies as he eases away from the curb outside Felicity's apartment block.

"Unofficially?"

"That is something I'm happy not knowing until she gets home."

"Understandable. Laurel always wants to know about my missions for the League, while Dad just asks me if I saw any sights while I was away." Sara says. "Dad knows enough about what I do to know that he doesn't want the details. As long as I let him know I'm all right, he's happy. Well as happy as he can be given my job description."

"Does he know you're coming to Las Vegas with us?" Felicity asks from the back seat.

"Yeah, it's one of the few times I can actually tell him the truth. Mind you, that vein in his head throbbed a bit when I told him I was going to be playing bodyguard for Ollie for a week while Digg stayed home with Julia." Sara turns around and grins at Oliver. "One of these days he'll be able to say your name without automatically reaching for his sidearm, Ollie."

"I doubt that day will arrive any time soon." Oliver replies dryly.

* * *

The flight to Las Vegas on Queen Consolidated's private jet is uneventful, a fact that Felicity is especially pleased by. She suspects at least part of her calmness is due to the benzo she popped before the flight and Sara keeping up a steady stream of chatter to distract her.

A chauffeur and car is waiting for them as they land and in no time at all they're on the Strip heading towards the Bellagio. Along the way, Felicity points out the hotels she's banned from for card counting and the kitschy sites she knows Sara will enjoy.

"It must be strange to be back." Oliver comments, watching the lights from the casinos light up Felicity's face as they drive past.

"Sort of. I didn't really spend that much time on the Strip growing up, apart from when I realised in senior year that hitting the casinos to earn money for college was going to be considerably faster and easier than working at a burger joint." Felicity keeps looking out the window, taking in the crowds of people spilling out onto the street. "This isn't really the Vegas I know. We lived way out in the crummy part of town and my mom worked in a series of smaller casinos and clubs. She would have given her eye teeth to work in one of the big hotels on the strip. The tips can be _insane_."

"Speaking of your mom…"Oliver trails off expectantly. Felicity turns away from the window and rolls her eyes at him.

"I spoke to her last night. She's going to meet us tomorrow afternoon and we're going to take her out for drinks. So you've got just under twenty four hours to come to your senses."

Sara looks between the two of them, a grin growing on her face. "Oh my God. Ollie, are you voluntarily meeting a girl's parents? I feel like I should be instagramming this moment for posterity or something."

"Shut up, Sara. I met your parents, didn't I?" At that, Sara howls with laughter.

"Only because Dad caught you sneaking out of Laurel's room!" She pauses mid laugh to glance guiltily at Felicity. "Sorry, I shouldn't talk about that, should I? I don't want to make things awkward for you, Felicity."

Felicity reaches over to squeeze Sara's hand. "Don't be ridiculous. You don't have to censor your past or Oliver's to protect me. It's no secret that Oliver dated you. And Laurel. At the same time. Sheesh. I'm probably the one that shouldn't talk."

Oliver just smiles softly at her. She knows every single one of his secrets now and she also knows he isn't the same man that dated sisters at the same time. If he was, his testicles would be swinging from the rearview mirror on her mini.

"That's all behind us now." Sara replies. "You two are happy, I'm happy and Laurel…well, it's hard to tell with her sometimes, but those days are all behind us."

"Yep." Felicity says, popping the p. She forces a small smile for Sara, not wanting to get into the Laurel issue in front of Oliver. Sara gives her a knowing smile and Felicity suspects the issue will be raised once Oliver's out of earshot.

The car pulls into the Bellagio and a swarm of porters descend. Sara gets out first, her hand resting carefully over her weapon as she organises the porters. She gestures for Oliver and Felicity to get out and Oliver leads Felicity into the hotel, his hand hovering at her lower back as they walk.

There's been plenty of speculation in the press about the nature of their relationship over the years, particularly since Felicity started working more closely with Oliver on Applied Science issues. However, Queen Consolidated's public relations department has kept a consistent policy of merely stating her academic qualifications and her value as an employee under Oliver's instructions and they're always careful to maintain some distance in public.

Felicity is torn about the arrangement. On one hand there have been enough women throwing themselves at Oliver at the various galas and benefits they attend, not to mention the whole Laurel issue, that Felicity wants to publicly lay her claim. But she also knows that her position at Queen Consolidated and the respect she's earned from her peers over the past year in particular would immediately be tarnished by the suggestion that it was earned through her performance in the bedroom and not the office. So despite her finding it perversely flattering that the press thinks she's some kinky sex ninja to be able to snare a billionaire playboy as hot as Oliver, she accepts the polite distance between them in public and relishes their private moments that much more.

Felicity hangs back from the reception while Oliver checks them in, Sara hovering between them. She pulls out her tablet and pretends to check her email, in reality remotely checking in to her system back at the foundry. In their absence, Digg and Roy will both suit up and patrol and Felicity hopes for a quiet week for them, knowing that Oliver will insist on heading home if anything more pressing that the daily muggers and petty thieves comes up.

Oliver is heading back towards her with their room security cards – to keep up pretences they've booked adjoining suites and have assigned Felicity and Sara to share one and Oliver to have the other – when Felicity hears a high pitched squeal and her heart sinks. She holds out a hand to let Sara - who's immediately on alert - know there isn't a threat and takes a deep breath before turning around.

"Mom!"

She can practically feel surprise radiating off Oliver and Sara as her mother totters towards her, arms outstretched. Donna Smoak does not look like someone's mother. Despite it being mid afternoon, she's wearing a skin tight cocktail dress that reveals a lot of cleavage and a lot of thigh. Her hair is abundant and a shade or two blonder than Felicity remembers and her shoes are one inch higher than a height most people would find ridiculous.

"Ohhhhh, there's my baby girl!" Donna cries out as she envelops Felicity in an embrace that's two parts arms and one part perfume. "I just couldn't wait until tomorrow to see you and to meet your man. Where is he? Oh, _hello_."

Her tone turns positively lecherous as she spots a rather shell shocked Oliver over Felicity's shoulder. Felicity loosens her hold on her mother, but not enough that Donna can get loose and launch herself at Oliver.

"Mom, this is Oliver, _my boss_." She hisses in an undercurrent. She's explained to Donna the day before why they keep things professional in public, but she doesn't expect it to sink in. "Oliver, this is my mom, Donna Smoak."

Oliver smiles, a smile Felicity recognises as a genuine one and not his polite playboy façade. He reaches out and grasps Donna's hand. "It's a pleasure, Ms Smoak."

"Oh honey, the pleasure is _mine_. Wow, aren't you just the most lickable man that walked the earth. I could just eat you up." Donna keeps hold of Oliver's hand and Felicity wonders whether today will be the day that she needs to tackle her mother in a crowded Las Vegas luxury casino to keep her from sexually assaulting Oliver Queen.

A snicker from her right signals that Sara is finding the whole thing hilarious. Felicity hears the sound of a camera phone go off and whips her head around to see Sara typing and swiping on her phone.

"One for Digg," Sara explains. "He'll kill me if he misses out on this."

Felicity snatches the phone to find a picture of her mother gazing at Oliver in a way that manages to be both adoring and predatory while he looks ever so slightly terrified.

"Okay, that's pretty fantastic and I'm going to want a copy of that for my 'I told you so' dance to Oliver later, but in the meantime, we should try to move this upstairs to a more private location."

"Kinky." Sara says lightly, earning a glare. She laughs in return and goes over to introduce herself to Donna before shepherding her towards the elevators, leaving a dazed Oliver in their wake.

"That's your mom?" he asks after a moment.

"Yes, that is indeed the one and only Donna Smoak."

"Wow." He says, allowing Felicity to shove him in the direction of the elevators. He stands, shellshocked, as Donna keeps up a stream of gossip about people Felicity had grown up with as they ride upstairs.

"So, Mom, how did you know where we were staying?" Felicity asks, interrupting a story about the prom queen from her senior year stacking on sixty pounds after having a baby.

"Oh, that nice boy in your office told me. Gary, is it?" Donna screws up her face as she tries to remember.

"Jerry." Felicity supplies, mentally making a note to meddle with his credit score. "I wasn't expecting to see you until tomorrow." At the look of hurt flashing across her mother's face, Felicity quickly continues. "I didn't want you to see me all gross from the flight. I wanted to wear a nice dress so we could take you out somewhere fancy for drinks. Plus you should see Oliver when he really makes an effort on his appearance. He's not even trying right now."

Donna's expression brightens at this and Felicity smiles in relief. She really does love her mother, but she was counting on a bit more time to prepare herself – and Oliver – for their meeting.

"Well you look lovely to me, baby. No doubt that glow comes from plenty of bedroom attention from that man of yours." Felicity blushes fiercely and out of the corner of her eye she notices Oliver studiously pretending he can't hear every single word Donna is saying. A soft snicker of laughter tells Felicity that Sara is absolutely loving every second of this.

"New skincare regime," she says instead. "Wow, is this the longest elevator ride in the world or what? Which floor are we on?"

"Nearly there." Sara pipes up, a grin splitting her face. She looks like the cat that ate the canary. Or, rather, the canary that saw the cat coming and garrotted it.

"Thank god." Felicity huffs under her breath. She practically lunges for the open door when they finally reach their floor and only Oliver reaching over to snag her hand keeps her from bolting.

Sara strides ahead, carefully taking in her surroundings and noting every single security camera. She opens the suite door she's technically sharing with Felicity and finds the porters neatly stacking their luggage.

"Your luggage is your suite next door, Mr Queen," one of the porter says quietly as Oliver lets go of Felicity's hand and peels off a couple of high denomination notes for each of them. "The suites share a fully equipped conference room. There are full instructions, but please call down to reception if you have any issues."

Their eyes widen ever so slightly as they see the size of their tip and then they disappear.

"Did you want to join us for dinner, Ms Smoak?" Oliver asks politely. "We have reservations at one of the restaurants here. I'm sure they can easily accommodate one more."

"Oh honey, call me Donna, we're practically family now." Donna simpers. "And it's very sweet of you to ask, but my shift starts in an hour and I better hotfoot it. If I'm late that little witch Jessica steals the best tables and the big tippers. No, I'll see you tomorrow as planned."

Felicity lets out a breath she didn't realise she'd been holding. "That's too bad, Mom. But I'm really looking forward to catching up tomorrow."

Donna sweeps her up into another hug. "Oh, me too, baby girl. I want you to catch me up with absolutely everything and I want to hear all about _this." _She says, stepping back to gesture between Felicity and Oliver. "And I can't wait to get to know you better." She says to Oliver. With that, Donna quicksteps over to Oliver's side and reaches up to press a kiss on his cheek, leaving a perfect bright red lipstick mark behind. Oliver freezes, but smiles warmly.

"We've got a car and driver from the hotel while we're here, I'll have them drop you at work, Donna." He says, taking a step back towards a desk where a phone sits.

"You don't need to do that, a cab's good enough for me." Donna smiles and Felicity suddenly realises that this is her mother on her very best behaviour – Donna Smoak never turns down a free ride, particularly in a plush town car that's sure to have her co-workers talking for days.

"I insist." Oliver replies firmly. "I'll ring down to reception now and the car will be waiting by the time you make it downstairs."

"Go on, Mom, he won't take no for an answer." Felicity says, walking her mother to the door.

"Well okay then. Thank you, Oliver." She gives him a little wave and then leans closer to Felicity as they reach the door. "Is he that authoritative in bed, baby? A commanding man is such a turn on."

Felicity forces a smile as she hugs her mother one more time, ignoring the choked laugh from Sara behind her. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mom. Have a good night at work."

She waits a good minute after she's closed the door to take a few deep breaths and turn around to face Oliver and Sara. Oliver's expression is a weird mixture of shock and embarrassment with a bit of laughter thrown in, while Sara is not even bothering to hide her absolute delight as she bends over clutching her stomach from laughter.

"This is too good! Your mom is an absolute scream, Felicity." Sara chokes out, straightening back up and wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. "I've got to call Digg and fill him in on this, he made me promise."

She easily dodges the swat that Felicity aims at her arm and heads into the master bedroom, her laugh still echoing behind her as the door swings shut.

Felicity looks over to Oliver, who still looks a bit shellshocked as he rubs at the lipstick mark Donna left on his cheek. "I did warn you. Multiple times." She points out.

"Felicity, your mom seems like she cares for you a lot." He says, coming over to her and pulling her in for an embrace. She settles easily against his chest and lets out a little huff of contentment. "Is she ever so slightly terrifying in a 'I literally don't know what she might say next' kind of way? Yes, she is. But I really like her."

"Trust me, she was on her best behaviour today, Oliver." She says, her voice muffled slightly as burrows in against his chest. "That was all very mild on the Donna Smoak scale of verbal gaffes."

"Hmm. She did say something that left me wondering." He says, his hands running up and down her back.

"Oh?"

"Something about women finding a commanding man in bed a turn on, I believe."

Felicity blushes and glances up at Oliver. His eyes are twinkling with amusement but there's a hint of desire there as well.

"Well I wouldn't know." She says, reaching up to flick open the buttons of his shirt, one by one. "My boyfriend is so considerate in bed. He always wants to put me first when sometimes I just want him to tell me to get on my knees, you know?"

She's only on the third button before Oliver lifts her chin up and covers her mouth with his, the kiss hot and demanding. He breaks away, leaving her panting.

"We might just have to do something about that, then." He murmurs, his voice thick with arousal as he bends down slightly and picks Felicity up, easily hoisting her so she's draped over his shoulder. She gives out a little squeak at the sudden move and Oliver's hand tightens on the back of her thighs where he's holding her in place. He strides over to the door that leads to their shared conference room and then through to the suite they'll share during their stay, kicking the last door shut behind them. He lets her slide back down his body until her feet touch the floor.

"Now, Miss Smoak," he says darkly and she shivers slightly at the look in his eyes. "On your knees."

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, I'm going to be evil and leave that there. Don't worry, this story will earn its rating :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks to everyone that's taken the time to review, or to follow/favourite this story. I really appreciate it! Please enjoy the next chapter, we have another familiar face popping up...**

**Chapter 3**

"Felicity, do you think you could put your tablet down for two seconds and enjoy these cocktails with me?"

Felicity glances up to see Sara brandishing two obscenely large and brightly coloured drinks, each one garnished with fruit and a little fold out umbrella. "You do realise it's really, really early for cocktails, right? And that I have to meet with a potential project partner with Oliver this afternoon?" Despite this, she balances her tablet on her raised knees and reaches out one hand to grab the nearest drink.

"Uh-uh." Sara says, pulling her hand back. "Tablet down first."

"Two minutes, okay? There's something weird going on with the encryption on this." She explains, her fingers dancing over the screen. Sara lets out a huff and sets Felicity's drink on the little table between their fold out lounge chairs before settling back in her own chair.

"By the way, I had them make your cocktail double strength." Sara adds conversationally as she takes a sip of her drink. "Considering I'm on virgins while I'm on duty. One of us has to get smashed."

"If you were actually on duty, you'd be upstairs in the conference room hovering over Oliver's shoulder while he takes conference calls back to Starling, not sipping virgin pina coladas by the pool with me." Felicity points out, not looking up from the screen in front of her. "You're his bodyguard, not mine, remember?"

"Cutie, we both know that, like the room registrations that say you and I are sharing a suite, that's just a show for the masses." Sara tips her heart-shaped sunglasses down her nose and fixes her bright blue eyes on Felicity.

Felicity rolls her eyes. "I'm not even going to argue, Sara. Just drink your cocktail while I work on this encryption."

"Okay! But you know I'm right." Sara replies in a sing-song voice, sliding her glasses back up and glancing around the pool area. They've secured a private poolside cabana for the morning and, as it's barely 9am, the pool is basically deserted.

"Ugh!" Felicity huffs, letting her tablet drop onto her seat. "I'm going to have to hook this up to one of my laptops and run a full diagnostic. There's something hinky going on and I've had to isolate it from both the QC system and the one in the lair, just in case."

"Hinky, hey?" Sara says. "Is that the technical term?"

"Yes. It is. It's the technical term for something isn't working as it's supposed to and it's far too early for me to think about it seriously." Felicity reaches over and snags her drink, taking a long sip before letting out a choking cough. "Oh my god! How much alcohol did you make them put in this?"

"I told you, I got them to make yours a double."

Felicity takes another tentative sip, wrinkling her nose. "If I give Oliver bad advice at the meeting this afternoon because I'm drunk as a skunk, it's totally on you."

"I don't think one cocktail is going to get you drunk, Felicity." Sara laughs as she plucks the small pink umbrella from her cocktail and twirls it between her fingers. "Besides, you don't actually have to drink it."

"Well that would be wasteful." Felicity replies earnestly. "And I am never wasteful. I recycle _everything._"

"Good to know. Now finish your drink. Our poolside massages are in twenty minutes."

* * *

Felicity wriggles back against the cushions of her sunlounge, her muscles feeling deliciously loose after their entirely decadent massages. Ever vigilant, Sara had only consented to a foot and shoulder massage so she could keep an eye on their surroundings, but even the assassin is looking more relaxed.

"Such a great idea," Felicity murmurs. "This is why you're my favourite Lance."

"Oh really?" Sara replies, grinning. "I better not tell my dad that, I'm pretty certain he's added your photo to the collection in his wallet. You're basically Lance daughter number three."

"Look, when your dad organises a massage for me, he'll bump you back down to two. Actually, that would be weird. I so don't want my surrogate father organising massages for me." Felicity says, wrinkling her nose. "That's a line that shouldn't be crossed."

"So Laurel's not in with a shot for number one?" Sara asks lightly. Felicity glances over to see Sara with a deliberately blank expression and she lets out a huff of exasperation. She's been expecting this conversation ever since that moment in her apartment the day before, but she wasn't anticipating that Sara would bring it up so quickly.

"I'm not really sure I should tell you my opinion of Laurel," Felicity says slowly. "She's your sister and you could kill me using just your little finger. Plus, she has been doing a lot of good work in the district attorney's office putting away the criminals we catch."

"Honey, you don't have to like Laurel. Hell, I spent the vast majority of my childhood resenting Laurel and downright disliking her. I wouldn't blame you if you told me you flat out hated her."

Felicity shoots Sara a grateful look, but she keeps her mouth shut, weighing her words. She definitely doesn't hate Laurel, but she knows they'll never be friends. There's too much history between Laurel and Oliver for Laurel to be friends with the woman he's finally in an adult relationship with. She kind of doesn't blame Laurel for that.

"I don't hate her." She says finally. "I don't really know her well enough to hate her. Before Slade the only way I knew Laurel was through Oliver. Initially she was this woman that he thought about for five years in hell and I saw how much he wanted her but held back. Or how much he thought he wanted her; I really don't know anymore and he probably doesn't either."

"Surely you know her better now that Ollie's secret is out?" Sara prompts. "She must be at the foundry all the time now she knows."

"Not as much as you think. Not once she realised Oliver and I were together. I see her looking at me sometimes and I know she's thinking that I'm just the rebound girl that Oliver is with until he finally realises that he belongs with Laurel. She wrote him off for so long, but he's become the sort of guy she apparently was pushing for him to become before the island."

Sara hums in acknowledgement. "You know that it doesn't really matter what Laurel wants, don't you? Oliver's in love with _you_. Anyone can see that."

"I know that." Felicity sighs, shifting onto her side and curling up on the lounge so she can face Sara. "But part of me thinks that one of these days he will realise that he loves Laurel. He always went back to her in spite of all the crap he pulled and I know he carried that damn picture of her for the five years he was away. And I think we all know that it was Tommy's death that kept them apart."

"Felicity, no. I know I'm biased because I was in the mix there as well, before _and_ after the island, but even though they loved each other they never really knew each other, not really." Sara says determinedly. "Oliver saw Laurel as this perfect girl that his parents approved of that would turn her back to all the other girls he saw and she saw him as the perfect guy to get her to a great career and a place in society, if only she could get him to behave the way she wanted. You know, the only reason they started going out was because she knew I liked him."

"What?" Felicity splutters. "But I thought…"

"That I was the one lusting after my big sister's boyfriend?" Sara grins. "Well, yeah, but long before all that I made the mistake of telling Laurel I liked him. We'd all gone to school together and I always figured Laurel liked Tommy. But not long after I confessed I had a crush on him and was planning on trying to get him to ask me out, we got in this huge fight over something stupid and her way of getting back at me was to get me grounded and then make a move on Oliver at a party."

"Wow." Felicity takes a moment to process this. "That doesn't exactly inspire me with confidence that Laurel isn't going to make it her mission to steal my boyfriend back."

"Honestly? I don't know what Laurel will do. There's probably some part of her that thinks Oliver will come back to her eventually, but she has to see that he's different now." Sara reaches over and grasps Felicity's hand and gives it a squeeze. "But you shouldn't let your fears of Laurel stop you from moving forward with Ollie. Is that why you guys haven't moved in together?"

Felicity winces. Oliver has been casually bringing up the idea of them moving in together for a few months and each time she's just as casually brushed him off by changing the subject and babbling.

"I don't know. Maybe. But do we really need to move in together? I mean, we work together at QC, we spend nights together at the foundry and then we'll stay at his place or mine. We haven't spent more than a handful of hours apart for over a year."

Sara suppresses a smile. "So you're basically living together already but you want to keep your apartment just in case Oliver decides to leave you for Laurel, a woman he no longer loves because he's madly, ridiculously and stupidly in love with you."

"Well it sounds petty when you put it that way, but it's more complicated than that." Felicity moans, flopping back in her chair and flinging one arm over her face.

"I know, believe me. Which is why we're going to order another round of drinks and talk about something else." Sara says kindly, signalling a waiter.

"You'd better make it another double."

* * *

Felicity heads upstairs soon after feeling a bit better after talking over the Laurel issue with Sara. She knows that eventually she's going to have to talk to Oliver about it, but that can wait. She lets herself into the suite and immediately sets up her laptop to run a diagnostic on her tablet. Equipment set up, she quietly opens the door to the shared conference room to find a very bored looking Oliver slumped in his seat at the table, papers strewn in front of him as a dull voice drones over the conference call speaker.

Felicity pads over to his side and slides onto his lap, pressing a kiss against his temple. He squeezes her waist and makes a non-committal noise at a pause in the caller's talking. He grabs a pen and scribbles a note on a random sheet of paper – _remind me never to accept a call from HR again. Forty minutes of my life I'll never get back going over the latest staff satisfaction survey._

Felicity grins. Normally she intercepts Norman the very dull head of HR and books him for ten minute meetings just before they're due to leave for an off-site trip so Oliver always has an out. She snags the pen out of Oliver's hand and writes – _would you like me to get you out of this call?_

_PLEASE_, is Oliver's hurried response.

Felicity leans over and lightly raps on the table. "Sorry to interrupt, Mr Queen, but your next meeting has arrived."

"Norman?" Oliver pipes up. "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to cut this short. Perhaps you could email through the results and I'll have Miss Smoak schedule a time for any follow up?"

Norman has barely started to respond before Oliver cuts him off. "Thanks, Norman, much appreciated." He leans over and jabs the end call button. "You're a lifesaver."

Felicity rolls her eyes. "You know, you're going to have to hear about the staff satisfaction survey at some point. The results will be important for the next round of enterprise bargaining agreements."

"There's only one staff member whose satisfaction I'm concerned with at the moment." He replies, his hand sliding up under the skirt of her sundress. "In fact, I should probably see to that right now."

Oliver's hand slides higher and Felicity doesn't hold back the moan as his fingers find the edge of her bikini bottoms. His mouth finds the sensitive spot on her neck and he bites down a little, immediately soothing the spot with his lips and tongue.

"Oliver…oh, god, yes there…we don't have time, he'll be here in forty-five minutes, Sara will be back from the gym soon and I still have to shower." She gasps as his mouth moves up to her ear to trace over her piercings while his fingers dip under her bikini bottom to find her hot centre.

"Then I'd better make this quick." He breathes into her ear. He covers her lips with his own as his fingers find her clit. Her hips jerk at the contact and she feels herself growing wetter as he alternates between soft strokes and firm taps.

She pants hard as he works her into a frenzy with his fingers. She grabs onto his shoulders for leverage as she moves with him, tossing her head back as his mouth moves down to her chest. She lets go briefly to drag down the neck of her dress and the cups of her bikini top so he can access her breasts and then her hand returns to dig into his firm muscles.

"So close!" she whimpers and he redoubles his efforts, switching to his thumb to work her clit so two fingers can slide into her. She cries out, thrusting her hips towards him as he curls his fingers and latches onto one nipple, but it's not until he moves his mouth back up to her ear and breathes out her name that she finally comes.

Felicity shudders, her hips stuttering as he brings her down from her high. In less than two minutes he'd worked her into a frenzy and given her release, which in her lust-addled mind sounds like a record for them. She pulls his face towards her, kissing him lightly as he pulls his hand from under her bikini bottoms, resting it on her upper thigh so she can feel her own wetness on his fingers.

She wriggles against his hardness and breaks the kiss as he thrusts up against her in response. "We've still got forty minutes," she whispers. "Want to join me in the shower?"

Oliver's eyes darken in response, but he leans over and kisses her softly. "Not enough time for what I really want to do. Go, have your shower and we'll finish this after the meeting."

With a final press of her hips against him, Felicity heads to the bathroom, undoing the halter neck on her sundress and letting it slide down her body, kicking it off in the doorway.

Oliver watches, mouth practically watering, as her hands reach back for the string on her bikini top. "Fuck it," he murmurs to himself, surging out of his seat and striding after her.

* * *

As Felicity lays out the last folder on the conference table, she hears Oliver opening the suite door and the low murmur of voices as he greets their potential investor and introduce him to Sara, who's flicking through magazines.

She smooths down her skirts as Oliver enters the conference room, followed by a tall, dark haired man that's chattering away.

"And once I heard you were presenting the key note address I knew this would be a great time to get together and talk opportunities. I've been trying to get in to see you whenever I'm in Starling, but we haven't managed to coordinate our routines and, oh, you must be Felicity Smoak." He breaks off as he spots Felicity. He grins broadly and comes around the table to shake her hand. "Ray Palmer. We've spoken on the phone."

"Of course, Mr Palmer." She responds politely.

He takes a seat at the table near Felicity, forcing her to slide Oliver's materials across to him and turning her chair so she can face Ray Palmer.

"I've looked over your proposal, Mr Palmer-" Oliver begins.

"Ray, please. Call me Ray." Palmer interrupts with a smile that's just a little too bright for Felicity's liking. He reminds her of the overenthusiastic Labrador that her neighbours had growing up. It would bounce around, wagging its tail for a pat and when she relented it would immediately try and stick its head up her skirt. She crosses her legs tightly at the memory and fixes a politely bland expression on her face.

"Ray." Oliver amends. "I'm intrigued as to why you think Queen Consolidated should partner up with Palmer Technologies on your wearable smart devices idea. You've already entered the market to some extent with your line of fitness devices, why not just jump straight in?"

"The PT-Fit has been pretty successful, I'll admit." Ray begins. "While wearable smart devices is the next logical step for us, it's also the next logical step for QC. The Q-Tab is the market leader in tablet devices and your companies cell phones are leading the way in innovation. Sooner or later QC is going to move to wearable devices as well and your user interfaces are the best out there."

"So you're looking to avoid competition." Felicity pipes up. Ray is closer than he knows. QC is already starting to develop prototype smart watches under her careful direction, although they've all been less than successful to date because they just can't develop a micro processor that's powerful enough for their programming.

"If I'm honest, then yes. But I also believe that together we can make a better product. Palmer Technologies is currently developing nano technology that would significantly increase the amount of tech you could cram into watch. As I understand it, that's an area that QC has been struggling with in its prototypes and-"

"Wait." Felicity interrupts, her brows drawing together. "Why would you think we've been struggling with prototypes when just a second ago you said this is an area we'd probably get into soon? Based on that logic, we shouldn't even have prototypes."

Ray looks at her blankly, his eyes wide. His mouth opens and closes a few times and Felicity catches the quick look he darts at her tablet – her secondary tablet for the one that's currently undergoing diagnostics after something screwed with the encryption. In a second, she realises what the glitch was.

"You son of a bitch." She seethes. "You hacked into my system!"

"What?" Oliver demands. "He did what?" She glances over to see Oliver clenching his fists.

"My tablet was acting funny this morning and it's because you got past the encryption. The only way you could know about the prototype failure is if you got into our files and read the reports."

Palmer has the grace to look embarrassed. "If it makes you feel better, I'd been trying since yesterday when I knew you'd arrived. That QC firewall was tough to crack. It took me most of the night. And don't get me started on that secondary firewall. I had no chance against that, so your secrets there are safe. So, yay for you." He ends with an awkward celebratory fist pump.

Felicity sees red. The second firewall he's referring to is the one that protects Team Arrow's remote system. "Actually, no that doesn't help! I can't believe this. What, did you get in through the hotel's wifi? Even after I encrypted the connection?"

Palmer opens his mouth to respond, somehow looking eager to share his hacking skills, but he's prevented by Oliver standing up suddenly. "I think this meeting is over. Palmer, get out. Don't approach me again and you should call your lawyers because you'll be hearing from the authorities soon."

"Look, you misunderstand my intentions." Ray says, smiling nervously and holding out his palms in a placating gesture.

"Because hacking into the secure system of a rival company and reading up on their R&amp;D initiatives really speaks towards having good intentions." Felicity replies sharply. "You heard Oliver, leave."

Oliver shadows Palmer out the door, all while Palmer continues to try and plead his case. Felicity follows a few steps behind and heads over to where her tablet is hooked up to the laptop near Sara, who looks mildly interested in the goings on. Now that she knows what she's looking for, Felicity quickly discovers where Palmer breached her system and she sets about strengthening the firewalls. Her fingers are flying over the keyboard as Oliver rejoins her, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder.

"You got this?" he asks quietly, squeezing her shoulder gently.

"I do now." She replies. "I should have had it before. I can't believe he got through my security! Thank god the encryption I developed for our night job held up."

"Can you tell what he got into?" Oliver asks.

"So far it looks like just got into the R&amp;D files for the smart watch prototypes, but I'm going to have to run a full analysis to make sure. In the meantime I'll need to strengthen security." She doesn't look up from the screen. "It'll take me a few hours, but unfortunately for you not so long that we won't have to reschedule with my mom."

Oliver lets out a good natured groan. "I'm looking forward to that, Felicity and you know it. I want to get to know your mom. But we won't get into that now. I'll order us up some lunch while you get to work."

Felicity hums in agreement, a smile curving on her lips as she overhears him ringing for room service and mentioning her nut allergy twice.

"Need me to kick that guy's ass?" Sara asks conversationally. "Because I could do that."

Felicity glances up and shoots Sara a smile. "You have no idea how appealing that idea is. Raincheck?" Sara grins in return and resumes reading her magazine.

Felicity works solidly for three hours, managing to eat and type at the same time, and finally she slumps back in her chair with a huff of accomplishment.

"Done?" Oliver asks, glancing up from the papers he's been going through while she works.

"Yep." She replies. "He went straight for the R&amp;D files, nothing else. I've strengthened the encryption on our system and on the wifi we're using here, plus I've also signed Ray Palmer up for a few interesting email subscriptions and tinkered with his home security system to set a few unscheduled alarm tests for the middle of the night."

Oliver lets out a snort of laughter as he sets the papers aside and stands up. "Come on, time to get ready, we're meeting your mom soon."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello! I was going to sit on this chapter for a few more days, but changed my mind when I noticed this story has hit 100 follows. So here's chapter 4. Thanks to everyone that's reviewed (I love hearing what you think), followed or favourited this story and thanks to everyone that's just taking the time to read it. Please enjoy.**

**Chapter four**

They find Donna seated up at the bar in the little speakeasy themed cocktail bar Felicity had selected after some careful online research. Felicity refrains from rolling her eyes as she notices her mother leaning forward on her stool and curling her shoulders in to enhance her cleavage as she chats to the barman. Her hair is bigger and her dress is somehow shorter and tighter than when she'd met them the day before and her heels are taller and sparklier.

"Hi, Mom." Felicity calls out as they approach and Donna spins around on her stool with a grin in place, the eagerness of which is matched only by the look of relief on the barman's face as he slips down to the other end of the bar. Felicity leans in for a hug, only for Donna to reach out and drag Oliver and Sara in as well and she cranes her neck to leave bright pink lip marks on both their cheeks.

"Felicity, honey, you were right, he does scrub up well." Donna pronounces as she releases them and runs an admiring eye over Oliver, reaching up to wipe away her lipstick. Felicity can't deny it – the pale blue shirt he wears makes his eyes seem even bluer and the dark grey suit is cut to perfection. He'd even trimmed back the scruff on his jaw to what Felicity dubs a "meet the parents level".

"You're looking lovely, Donna," Oliver responds, neatly ignoring her ogling and the lingering hand on his cheek. "Can I get you a drink?"

"A cosmo, please. Us girls will go and find a table." She grabs Felicity's and Sara's hands and drags them off, leaving Oliver at the bar. "Now, while he's busy you can tell me how good he is in bed. I bet you're riding that man like the pony I could never get you as a kid."

"MOM!" Felicity half shrieks, whipping her head around to see if Oliver heard. If he did, he's managing very well to pretend he didn't. Sara cackles in glee as she carefully settles in a chair against the wall where she'll be able to watch the room.

"What? I just want to know that my baby's happy." Donna pouts as she pulls out a chair and elegantly drapes herself in it. "And having a healthy and energetic sex life is essential to your happiness."

Felicity drops down into her own seat in a decidedly less elegant fashion. "Which could have been achieved by asking 'Felicity, are you happy?' and not by implying that Oliver's turned me into some sort of nympho!"

Donna laughs. "Such a prude, darling. Is she always like this?" she asks Sara, who nods and smirks in return. "Don't worry, Felicity, the answer's written all over your face."

Felicity groans and buries her head briefly in her hands. "Let's change the topic. Are you seeing anyone?"

"Not at the moment. There was someone but that ended a week or so ago. Probably for the best, I think he might have been mobbed up." Donna says matter of factly.

"What? You were dating a mobster? Are you insane?" Felicity hisses. She glances back over her shoulder, looking for Oliver, but he's still waiting at the bar.

"I only think he was mobbed up, Felicity. It's hard to tell these days. It was so much easier when the Italians all wore leather jackets and sounded like they were from Jersey and the Russians all wore furs and gold chains. Anyway, it's over now. You do not accuse a lady of stealing from you and expect her to stick around, am I right?"

Felicity opens her mouth to start lecturing her mother on the dangers of associating with members of organised crime gangs when Sara delicately clears her throat and Felicity abruptly recalls Oliver's Bratva association. Completely different, she reasons to herself, but Donna has already switched subjects again.

"Did I tell you about Mrs Novak asking me to look after her dog while she visited her family in Florida? Horrid little thing. It chewed up my second best red heels and made the most awful mess on my rug." Donna wrinkles her nose in distaste. "Thankfully she was only gone a week, I don't think I could have stood it much longer and what do you think she gave me in return for all that effort? An apron with a cartoon alligator on it. Do I look like I cook?"

"Nope. I definitely remember that is one thing you don't do." Felicity replied, recalling a childhood of packet meals and leftovers brought home from whatever club her mother happened to be working in at the time.

"And then she drops hints about going away again at Christmas and I thought, oh no you don't, but then I figured I'd come and stay with you and Oliver for the holidays this year, so-"

"Sorry, what?" Felicity asked. "You want to come to Starling City for the holidays?"

"Well, yes, silly, that's what I was just saying. I'm sure you and Oliver have a nice little cosy spare room I can bunk down in for a week or so over Hanukkah."

"Mom, Oliver and I don't live together."

Donna's mouth snaps shut and she tilts her head as she regards her daughter curiously, her glance flicking over to Sara for confirmation. "Well why not? You told me on the phone you've been together for a year and, Felicity, a man like that needs to be locked down ASAP."

"I don't need to lock him down! Our arrangement suits us. We work all day together and every night at his place or mine. He's living with his little sister and I don't want to intrude." Felicity replies, not quite believing her rotten luck to be questioned on her and Oliver's living arrangements twice in one day. "But you're more than welcome to stay with me, obviously, but we'll have to wait for a while to organise something because work gets a bit insane at that time of year, so I don't know if I'll even be around much."

"It's got me mystified too, Donna." Sara pipes up, interrupting Felicity's babble. "They spend practically every minute of the day together, I don't understand why sharing closet space is such a big deal." Felicity shoots Sara a look. Sara knows very well that there's a very big obstacle named Laurel Lance in Felicity's way. And that is not something that Felicity wants to get into with her mother because she knows it will come with some very unwanted and very impractical advice for dealing with a rival. Donna Smoak's method of scaring off rivals in the past involved drinks thrown in faces and some old-fashioned hair pulling.

"Miss Smoak?" Felicity glances around at the sound of her name, almost grateful for the interruption in the conversation, but her eyes narrow when she sees Ray Palmer standing near their table, phone in hand, overenthusiastic smile in place. He rocks back and forth slightly on his heels while he waits for her to respond.

"What the hell?" she asks incredulously. "Didn't you hear Oliver earlier when he said not to come near us again?"

"Actually, he just said to stay away from him." Ray points out. "You weren't mentioned and, therefore, are fair game."

"You're unbelievable. What, did you hang out in the hotel lobby all day and then follow us here?" At Felicity's words, Sara sits a little straighter in her chair, her right hand already having drifted towards the inside of her leather jacket at Palmer's approach.

"Nope, I pinged your phone and tracked you to this location. It was easy to get your details after I got into your tablet." Ray says cheerfully as he wiggles the hand holding his phone. "That was the only easy part. That was some great security you had on there, which is why I'm here, really. I wanted to offer you a job at Palmer Technologies."

Felicity's mouth drops open. "Are you insane? Is there some sort of medication you forgot to take this morning because that is the only logical explanation."

Ray laughs. "If I had a dollar for every time someone said that. Oh wait, I pretty much do, being a billionaire and all. But seriously, Felicity, I think we could work really well together."

Felicity ignores him and looks around for Oliver. The crowd at the bar is deep and she can barely make out the back of his head. "You need to leave. There is no way I'm going to leave QC and come and work for some insane hacking stalker."

"Look, I probably haven't really explained properly. I'll send you through some details, okay? I think you'll find the employee health benefits package really quite appealing." Ray says earnestly. "I swear I'm not in the habit of stalking my staff. Well, it depends on your definition of stalking. I mean, I track people using their cell phones if I can't find them when I need to talk to them, but I'm not really one for sitting outside houses in the dark."

Sara finally decides enough is enough, stands up and steps up to Palmer. "She told you to leave. Either you do that under your own steam, or you do it with my foot up your ass. Or his." Sara jerks her head towards the bar.

Palmer turns and sees Oliver heading towards them. "Oh, and here's Oliver. Well, it's probably poor form to try and headhunt someone in front of their current boss, so I'll head off. Watch your email!"

He ducks away before Oliver makes it to their table. "Was that Palmer? What the hell did he want?"

"You're not going to believe it." Felicity sighed.

* * *

"I can't believe Palmer offered you a job." Oliver says for the fourth time later that night as he watches Felicity taking off her makeup in the lavish marble bathroom in their suite.

After Palmer's quick departure, it had taken both Felicity and Sara to stop Oliver from going after him – Sara with sheer brute strength and Felicity with the threat of withholding certain bedroom activities, much to her mother's dismay.

"You should have let me go after him." He says as she wipes off her dark pink lipstick and tosses the used cotton pad into the bin.

"We were already getting a lot of attention, Oliver. The last thing the company's image needs is cell phone video of the CEO of Queen Consolidated punching the CEO of Palmer Technologies in the middle of a bar in Las Vegas." Felicity replies tartly, reaching for a wet washer to dampen her face. She applies a thick layer of cleanser and starts rubbing her face, conscious of Oliver watching her as he sits on the edge of the bathroom's massive spa bath.

"You know, I don't know if I'm entirely comfortable with you seeing me taking off my war paint," she says jovially. "A girl likes to have her mysteries."

Oliver makes a dismissive noise in the back of his throat. "Felicity, I've seen you without your makeup every night and day for the past year. That ship has sailed."

"You've seen me in half light. Not under the full glow of very unforgiving lights!" she says, gesturing to the bright bulbs edging the mirror.

"You're ridiculous." He laughs, getting up to stand behind her and wrap his arms around her waist. He drags her back against his chest and buries his face in her neck, making Felicity squirm as his mouth latches on.

"Oh! As nice as that is, I've got to finish getting this off…Oliver!" she moans as one of his hands slips up to cup her breast. With shaking hands, Felicity swipes at her face with the washer, cleaning off the cleanser.

"Come to bed," Oliver murmurs, lifting his head up momentarily to glance at Felicity in the mirror before them. Her face is pink and he doesn't know if it's from his attentions or from where she's been scrubbing her skin, but he likes it. Under the bright lights he notices the little bridge of freckles across her nose and tops of her cheeks that he's caught a glimpse of some mornings before she wakes up.

"Just let me put on my moisturiser." She replies, but Oliver is too impatient. As Felicity slathers the cream onto her face, Oliver's fingers find the zip at the back of her dress and start pulling it down, his lips pressing against each inch of bare flesh he reveals as the zip pulls lower and lower.

"Oliver…" she whines, her body trembling as he takes one arm at a time and pulls them free of the dress, then pushes it down over her hips and to the floor, leaving her in her underwear.

"Mm?" he hums softly as he traces the lines of her body.

"Not fair!" she says, abandoning any attempt at completing her nightly regime. She kicks aside her dress and tries to spin around so she can wrap her arms around him, but Oliver holds her tightly, keeping her pressed between him and the vanity. She glances up at the mirror, her breath catching slightly at the picture of her near nakedness with his fully dressed and large frame behind her.

"Too many clothes, not fair." She murmurs as his hands continue sweeping over her. He grins and pulls back just far enough that he can unbutton his shirt and pull it off, tossing it to one side. She shivers as he presses his bare flesh against her back, but then feels his belt buckle dig into her back.

"That too," she commands, reaching back with one hand and trying to flick the clasp open. His fingers replace hers and he undoes his pants and kicks them off, leaving them both in their underwear.

Felicity arches her neck and leans back, meeting Oliver halfway in a messy kiss. One of his hands slides around to her stomach while the other reaches up to flick open her bra. Felicity breaks the kiss and pulls the bra off, anxious to feel Oliver's hands on her. He obliges and she presses her hips back against him in encouragement as he palms her breasts.

"Bedroom!" she gasps as his fingers brush over her nipples.

"Nope, changed my mind. I want to watch." He replies, his voice low and rough as he tilts his head in the direction of the mirror before them.

Felicity glances up, gasping as she takes in her flushed skin and the sight of Oliver's tanned hands on her pale skin, his mouth on her neck. She looks so small against him and it ratchets her arousal up another gear. He catches her eyes in the mirror and holds her glance as one of his hands slowly slides down her torso and pauses just above the lace top of her underwear. Her breath catches as he flicks up the edge with one finger and slides down.

"Oh!" she writhes against his hand, her movements limited by the marble vanity in front of her and Oliver's hard body behind her. He works her up into a frenzy, just like he had earlier that day, but just as she's approaching her climax he pulls his hand back.

"_Please_." She whimpers, her hands scrabbling for his to draw them back where she needs him. Instead, Oliver pushes her panties down over her hips and she kicks them away while he tends to his own.

"Lean forward," he murmurs, one hand pushing gently between her shoulders. She obliges, spreading her legs slightly and leaning up on her toes, panting with need as she watches his face in the mirror. Felicity feels him, hot and hard as he brushes between her legs, crouching slightly to make up for the difference in their heights.

"You ready, baby?" he asks, leaning over her to catch her earlobe in his teeth, one hand guiding himself towards her core and the other latched tightly onto her hip.

Felicity nods frantically. "Please, Oliver. Please, I need you right now."

He releases her ear and leans back, teasing her with his tip for a bit longer, words failing her as she resorts to a stream of incoherent babble. She gasps out loud as he suddenly shifts forward, his length entering her. She leans further forward, angling her hips up and back towards Oliver as his hands tighten on her hips. He slides in the rest of the way and Felicity keens, her inner muscles clutching greedily at him as he starts a brutally slow and teasing pace.

Her eyes drift shut and she lets her head fall back as she enjoys the sensations he's building in her, but then one of his hands slides off her hip and reaches up to angle her face back towards the mirror.

"Watch, Felicity. I want you to see me." His breath is coming heavier as he picks up the pace. "Watch me fucking you."

His coarse words inflame her and she does as he says, watching each jolt of her body as he thrusts into her, each movement of his hips pressing her harder against the vanity. The hand he used to move her face finds her one bouncing breast and latches on, the fingertips of the other are pressing hard into the skin of her hip and she knows she'll have bruises there tomorrow.

"Harder." She whimpers, using one hand to prop herself up so she can keep looking in the mirror and the other moves up to cover the hand on her breast.

Oliver obliges and Felicity cries out, the sensations becoming almost too much. She shifts his hand down her stomach and encourages him to touch her. He doesn't take much prompting and his fingers zero in on her clit and start rubbing in time to his hard thrusts.

Felicity pants as she watches them in the mirror and it's the hottest thing she's ever seen. Her breasts are heaving each time Oliver drives into her and the picture is accompanied by the almost obscene slapping sound of their flesh meeting, the sound amplified in the small tiled room.

"Come on, Felicity." Oliver grunts in her ear. "Come for me."

He presses harder between her legs with his fingers and Felicity immediately climaxes, the arm holding her up wobbling as she struggles to remain upright. Oliver pulls his hand away from her centre and hauls her upright, back against his chest. He holds onto her tightly as he thrusts up hard into her body, her walls fluttering around his length as he chases his own release.

"Your turn," Felicity gasps, watching in the mirror as the veins in his arms and next stand out. She can feel herself getting close to the peak again as Oliver's thrusts lose their rhythm and he pounds furiously up into her. She breaks again seconds before he does, trembling in his arms as his hips jerk up against her and she feels him release deep inside her, groaning her name.

He breathes heavily into her ear as they stand there, slowly leaning forward until her elbows meet the vanity and he's curved over her back.

"Oh. My. God." She pants.

"Yeah." He responds, and she can feel each breath he takes as he comes back down from his peak, his heartbeat gradually slowing from its rapid pace.

Felicity lets out a small whimper as he pulls back from her, leaving her, only to find herself being spun around and pressed up against Oliver's chest.

"Love you." He murmurs, taking her lips for a slow kiss. Felicity winds her arms around his neck and presses against him.

"Love you." She replies. "Now, shower."

He smiles against her mouth and reaches back to find the door handle to the shower. They step in and stand under the spray for a few minutes, soaping each other down.

"Best bathroom, ever." Felicity murmurs sleepily ten minutes later as she drapes herself over Oliver's side in their enormous bed, not hearing his reply as she drifts off.

* * *

Felicity wakes in the middle of the night to Oliver's fingers trailing up and down her bare arm.

"Mmm," she murmurs, snuggling in closer to his side and pressing her lips against his chest. "Again?"

Oliver lets out a low laugh. "And have both of us exhausted for the conference tomorrow?"

"That's very sensible of you." She yawns.

"I know. I'm sure I'll regret it, too." He replies, dragging her in closer and pressing a kiss into her mussed up hair.

"I was thinking." Oliver trails off. Felicity makes a murmur of encouragement. "Palmer. If you wanted, you should go work with him."

Felicity pushes up from Oliver's embrace and sits up. "Um, what? Where the hell is this coming from?"

Oliver shuffles back to prop himself against the headboard. "The guy crossed a line, I know. But you've been talking about Palmer Tech for months and how great the stuff they've been doing is."

"So?" Felicity asks. "That doesn't mean I want to go work for him! Especially after what he pulled today. What's this really about, Oliver?"

He takes a deep breath. "I didn't give you a choice about being my EA and you're still putting so much time into making sure I don't screw up instead of spending it in applied sciences. I guess I thought that you should have the choice to go somewhere where you'd be able to really put your talents to use."

Felicity closes her eyes briefly and exhales. "Oliver. I thought we worked through all of this last year. Yeah, I didn't enjoy parts of being your EA, but I love working with you. I love working in applied sciences and we're doing some really great things. Palmer Tech has made some amazing advances that I would kill to be a part of, but I'd much rather work with you to make QC _better_ than Palmer." She leans over to poke Oliver in the chest to emphasise her point.

"Are you sure?" he asks quietly, reaching up and snagging her hand.

"Positive. Now shut up and kiss me." She grins, scooting up and clambering into Oliver's lap.

* * *

**A/N: You know, I gave serious thought to moving straight into the next day after the bar scene and into some action, but I figured some action of a different kind was required first :)**


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